


Janto One Shots

by This_killed_me_126_times



Category: Janto - Fandom, Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:01:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23819629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/This_killed_me_126_times/pseuds/This_killed_me_126_times
Summary: One shots of scenes that I feel like we were deprived of in Torchwood. Most stick to canon, but I may have taken a few liberties with others.1. How they got together2. Jack looking after a sick Ianto3. Telling the Team they're together4. The Date5. Jack meeting Ianto's sister6. A day off
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Comments: 16
Kudos: 83





	1. The Beginning of Everything

**Author's Note:**

> Rewatching Torchwood reminded me how many Janto scenes we didn't see, so I thought I would write them, because I need this (especially after CoE, which will not feature because as far as I'm concerned it didn't happen)
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters

It had been a week since Jack had sent Mary into the middle of the sun, and things were back to normal at the Hub. Mostly. Tosh found that she didn’t even miss her very much, although she had admitted to wanting to eat her heart, so maybe that had something to do with it. Largely though, she was just glad to be rid of that intrusive pendent, but even without it, Tosh couldn’t shake what she’d heard Ianto thinking. Most of the things she’d heard, especially the things between Gwen and Owen, had been shocking at first, but she’d gotten over them and they just became another fact in her life, but somehow, what Ianto was thinking was different, and not being able to help him was eating her up inside. Every time she caught sight of him, immaculate as always, blending into the background of Torchwood and doing all of his usual jobs, making coffee, clearing out the archives, or cleaning up, she remembered how he was feeling, even though beneath his serious and professional demeaner there was no sign of the hurting man beneath. She realised that she’d taken to avoiding even looking at him to keep from getting that horrible reminder. She couldn’t even smile at him when he came to bring her her morning coffee. It couldn’t go on like this. She stood up from her desk and headed quickly to Jack’s office, determined to let him know what was going on so she could stop feeling so guilty. Maybe if she told someone else she wouldn’t feel so responsible and she could finally concentrate on her work properly.  
She walked into the room and closed the door quietly, unsure how to begin.  
“And here I was thinking I was going to have a boring morning,” joked Jack before he looked up and saw her face, “Toshiko? What’s wrong?” He quickly moved to hug her as her eyes welled up and she buried her head in her hands.  
Jack rubbed her back comfortingly until she composed herself enough to begin.  
“It’s Ianto,” she said as she wiped the tears that were now staining her cheeks.  
“What about him?” Jack glanced out of his office window to see Ianto cleaning up in the kitchen, before looking back at Tosh confused, “he seems the same as always.”  
Tosh shook her head and stepped out of Jack’s arms. “When I had that pendent, the one that Mary gave me, I heard his thoughts.”  
She paused and Jack waited for her to continue, eventually prompting her with a soft, “so?”  
“Rats.” She stated, looking down at her hands “He feels like his stomach is full of rats. And he is in such constant, such unimaginable pain.” She couldn’t control the tears that spilled back onto her cheeks as she sunk into a chair, but she made no move to wipe them away, “all of him hurts and it’s all because of Lisa. And there is nothing I can do to help.” She looked up at Jack pleadingly, pushing her hair back from her face in distress, “I- I can’t cope with it. Every time I see him it’s as though I can still feel everything that he’s feeling, and it is killing me. It’s worse because he just seems so normal, I know that if I tried to bring it up he would just brush it off, and I feel so helpless, because now I know how he’s feeling, how can I stand by and do nothing?”  
Jack put his hand on her shoulder and smiled at her, “I never would have guessed, but thank you for letting me know, I’ll talk to him, okay?”  
Tosh nodded and smiled back weakly, “thank you.”  
He chuckled, “hey, it’s my job to make sure my employees are okay. Now!” He helped her up and guided her to the door, “go and do your work. Or, as your boss, I’ll have to punish you.”  
Tosh laughed and wiped away the remaining tears, holding up her hands in mock defeat as she walked out the door, “I’m going, I’m going, I’ll have that rift report on your desk by the end of the day.” Suddenly she turned around, “Seriously though, thank you.”  
Jack nodded, and Tosh felt slightly less weighted down as she went back to her desk. Hopefully now she’d actually be able to get on with her work, without being distracted by seeing Ianto out of the corner of her eye.

Jack closed the door and looked out over the Hub, searching for Ianto, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Jack assumed he must be down in the archives, but he couldn’t exactly go blundering in there without any idea of what to say. He dropped into his desk chair and placed his head in his hands. This was going to require thinking and subtlety, the former he was okay with, but the latter wasn’t exactly his strong suit. He sat up, running his hands through his hair; he felt so stupid. Of course Ianto’s loss of Lisa was slowly killing him, he of all people should know that, after all, hadn’t he just lost Estelle? And wasn’t it eating away at him, that he should have done more to protect her? He’d gone through so much loss in his life and each time it had destroyed a part of him, honestly sometimes he was surprised that he was still functioning. Ianto had fought so hard to keep Lisa alive. He thought she’d died at Canary Warf, so he must have known he was on borrowed time. Still, having his hope ripped so brutally from him, assisted by Jack, must have torn him apart. His survivor’s guilt can’t have helped, and that’s one thing Jack knew about better than anyone else. He stood up and marched through the Hub towards the archives. He knew he couldn’t stop it hurting, only time could do that, but maybe, just maybe, Ianto would trust him enough to confide in him. He knew from experience that trying to ignore the pain wasn’t a viable solution. It would work for a while, but eventually it would burst out, and he couldn’t let that happen. Ianto had to know that it simply wasn’t healthy to bottle up all of his hurt and hide them under a neatly pressed suit.

Down in the archives, Ianto was quietly organising files, trying to distract himself from the gnawing feeling in his stomach, from feeling like he was being slowly eaten from the inside out. Sometimes the pain was so bad that he couldn’t function, and there was nothing he could do but close his eyes and hope it passed swiftly. At least he didn’t have to pretend down here, none of the rest of the team bothered coming into the archives, so there was no one to put up a mask for. He found he usually did it anyway, out of habit, but it was a relief to know that it didn’t matter if his act began to slip to reveal the broken man underneath. Sighing, he leant his head against the cool filing cabinet. He was exhausted. Every night, his nightmares were filled with flashing images from that fateful evening and no matter what he did they just wouldn’t stop. He couldn’t wake up, so he was stuck replaying it night after night with no respite. So he stopped trying to sleep, because as awful as sleep deprivation felt, it was a million times better than having to endure Lisa’s death over and over and over again. Sleep was replaced with coffee, and he had to hope it would be enough to get him through the day  
Footsteps coming down the stairs woke Ianto from his reverie, causing him to smooth down his suit and close off his face, almost as if he was donning an armour, and continue with his filing, hoping against all hope that the person coming had somehow gotten lost and wasn’t looking for him, or, more realistically, they only needed him to find a file and wouldn’t be long.  
“Ianto,” Jack’s voice rang out through the rows of documents, “I have to talk to you.”  
Ianto grimaced and shut the draw he was working on with a resounding bang. He turned to face Jack, face impenetrable “yes sir?”  
Jack looked slightly awkward and wouldn’t quite meet his eyes, very unusual for the dashing captain, “Listen, I know things must be hard since you lost Lisa…”  
Jack didn’t miss the way Ianto flinched at the name, a chink in his calm exterior, before he interrupted, with only a mild accusatory tone, “with all due respect sir, I didn’t lose her, you murdered her.”  
“Believe me when I say I am so sorry that it was necessary, but the Lisa you knew and loved was already gone and the cyberwoman was a threat.” He held his hands out as if to hug Ianto, but slowly put them down when there was no response, “there was nothing else that I could have done for her. Although I admit that I was unnecessarily harsh considering everything that you were going through.”  
Ianto looked down at his feet, “I know that sir,” he said stiffly.  
Jack cautiously walked forwards, as though approaching a wild animal, laid a gentle hand on the archivist’s back, and said, surprisingly softly “I don’t want to add to your pain, all I came down here to say is that I know what it is to lose the ones you love. Even when you did everything you could, it doesn’t stop the guilt from burrowing deep down inside of you, telling you that you should have done better, that you should have done more. But let me tell you,” he lifted up Ianto’s chin and was slightly taken aback to see the usually composed man with his face wet with tears, “there is absolutely nothing else you could have done to save her, I’m sorry, but she was gone the moment they put her in that conversion unit and you need to know that it is not your fault.” Jack let go of Ianto’s chin and stepped back, preparing to leave him to process now that he’d said his piece.  
Ianto grasped at his arm and choked out, “Does it get better?”  
Jack couldn’t help but pull him into a bone-crushing hug and run his fingers through Ianto’s hair, so he couldn’t see that Jack was crying as well, “yes,” he nodded into Ianto’s shoulder, “I promise you it does get better. It won’t get better all at once and you will have days where you feel like you’re drowning in grief with no way out, but it will get better. And,” he hesitated slightly, “it helps if you talk to people.” He pulls back from the hug, wiping his eyes as he did so, and looking at Ianto properly for the first time in months. He was ashamed to realise that he’d been unconsciously avoiding him, because he wasn’t ready to face up to what he did that night. This all could have been prevented if he had just bothered to look at Ianto, really look, rather than just allowing him to become part of the furniture, “have you talked to anyone?”  
Ianto shook his head.  
“Not even your family?”  
“I’m not really very close with them,” he laughed bitterly, “they didn’t even know I had a girlfriend,” he continued quietly, voice full of regret and longing.  
“But, you could have talked to any of us, why keep it all to yourself?”  
“You were all so angry at me. Why would you want to hear about the thing that put you in danger, especially from the person who put it there? You’re hardly going to care,” he shook his head, “the only reason you didn’t fire me is because you’d have no one to make you coffee. Besides, I’m used to dealing with things on my own, I have done all my life, so why should this be any different?”  
Jack didn’t expect such a long speech, but composed himself, “Of course we were angry, but I still care about you, otherwise I would have fired you, coffee or not. Especially after the Brecken Beacons, I never expected you to be going through all of that alone and you have more than proved yourself to be loyal to Torchwood. If I’d have known what you were going through, I wouldn’t have…”  
“Suspended me? Avoided me for the next three months?” He took a few steps back from Jack and turned to begin organising a new draw, and just like that, the vulnerable man from a second ago was gone, disappeared behind that immovable mask, “I think you did know what I was going through, you just didn’t want to be responsible, so you chose to believe the lie.”  
Jack didn’t know what to do. Ianto had spoken the truth, even if Jack hadn’t realised what he was doing at the time. Eventually, he decided that honesty was the best policy, “you’re right. I left you to deal with it on your own and that was unforgivable of me. Please Ianto, I’ve lost so many people, some of which were my fault, don’t let me lose you too.” He turned to leave, “just please, talk to me, anytime you feel like you can’t keep it in any longer. You really don’t have to do this by yourself…” He shot one final look at Ianto, who still resolutely had his back to Jack, but Jack could still see how he was curling in on himself, protecting himself, before heading back up onto the main floor of the Hub.  
As Jack made his way back to his office, he locked eyes with Tosh and nodded. Tosh smiled back at him, feeling relieved that this was no longer just her responsibility, and continued her work.  
He sat down in his office chair and surveyed the mess of papers on his desk. He knew he had to finish the UNIT reports, he even managed to get as far as pulling them towards him and picking up a pen, but he just couldn’t. He knew at the time he shouldn’t have been so hard on Ianto, but he was overwhelmed at the fact that somebody he trusted had betrayed them and put not just the team in danger, but the world. He could see now that he should have payed a little more attention to Ianto, instead of accepting him as part of the background, but it was too late and letting him continue on his lonely way was so much easier than having to face him after what Jack had threatened to do. Now he was paying the price because Ianto didn’t know that he avoided him because of his hatred for himself, not because he was still angry at Ianto. There was nothing he could do, except wait and hope that Ianto would come and talk to him, rather than try and battle through this alone.

Back down in the archives, Ianto managed to get halfway through the section he was working on and had almost convinced himself that he was fine until he broke down completely. It hurt so much more now, before it was a dull constant ache, now it was like being branded and he wondered if you could pass out from emotional pain. He felt as though Jack had just come and ripped open a healing wound. After a few minutes of overwhelming pain it passed and when he opened his eyes, he felt… better? Despite the stabbing pain, he felt as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Ever since Canary Warf he had felt as though he spent his days being pushed down by the burden of what he had done, and had let other people do, but now he felt lighter than he had in months. Maybe talking about it wasn’t such a bad idea after all, maybe he didn’t have to go through this alone. Maybe it would be a relief to finally be able to talk to someone, something he hadn’t had since he moved out of his family home, and he’d stopped having regular contact with his sister. Just that thought was enough to tug his lips up into the first genuine, albeit weak, smile he’d done since Lisa died.

Much later, Jack thought everyone had gone home, and he was finally done with those UNIT reports. He thought that he might get an early night for once, when there was a knock at the door.  
“Ianto, I didn’t realise you were still here. Why don’t you go home?”  
He shut the door quietly behind him, “I was just finishing up some work in the archives. Did you really mean it when you said I can talk to you whenever?”  
“Of course I did, what did you want to discuss?” He gestures at a chair, “please, sit down.”  
Ianto perched uneasily on the edge of the chair and looked awkwardly at Jack. “After you ambushed me in the archives, I felt a million times worse.”  
Jack looked uncomfortable, cursing himself for wandering in there without thinking about the possible consequences for Ianto, and opened his mouth ready to apologise for his careless actions, but Ianto put up a hand to silence him.  
“I wasn’t finished. After I felt a million times worse, I actually started to feel somewhat better, much to my surprise.” He paused for breath, “and, I was thinking, perhaps it isn’t so bad to talk to other people.”  
Jack smiled and nodded, “I cannot tell you how glad I am to hear that. No one should feel as if they have to deal with something that big alone.” He quickly moved over to where Ianto was sitting, “I’m sorry if I ever gave you the impression that I didn’t care for you or care what happened to you. I let my anger get the better than me that night.” He crouched down next to the chair, “if I’m being perfectly honest, ever since you helped me to catch Myfanwy, I’ve cared for you a lot.”  
Ianto raised an eyebrow, “really?”  
“Okay,” Jack laughed, “maybe it was ever since you beat up that Weevil with a stick. That was badass.”  
Ianto laughed softly, “really?”  
Jack chuckled, “yes really,” he looked up into Ianto’s eyes, and noted how sad they were, no act could hide that, he was ashamed that he hadn’t noticed it before, that he hadn’t bothered to look too closely because it was easier to accept that Ianto was fine with everything he’d done, that he’d been so willing to accept the façade that he’d had put up.  
He started to get up and move to open the door, thinking that the conversation was over, but, without warning, Ianto grabbed his face and kissed him. It was a quick kiss, barely more than a peck, and though Jack was all for deepening the kiss, it was over almost as soon as it had started and Ianto rose hastily to his feet, avoiding Jack’s gaze, but looking frantically towards the door, which was behind Jack.  
“Well that was unexpected, and I think I liked it, but it was too quick to tell,” chuckled Jack, also standing up.  
“I shouldn’t have done that,” said Ianto, more to himself than to Jack, “I should really be getting back home,” and he moved around Jack to head towards the door.  
Jack gently grabbed his arm, “I thought you didn’t want to go home?”  
“Currently it’s better than being here, sir. I apologise for being so unprofessional. Now, if you wouldn’t mind letting go of my arm.”  
Jack complied, but shouted after him, “I wouldn’t mind if you were unprofessional a bit more!” He had a nasty feeling that he might have just destroyed the progress he’d made. He would be lucky if Ianto ever wanted to confide anything in him again, but he could hope. He could also hope that Ianto would kiss him again, but that seemed even less likely.  
Ianto ignored him and practically ran out of the Hub, losing some of his trademark composure.

Back at his flat, Ianto sat on his sofa, mind whirring, going through the day’s events. He had no idea why he kissed Jack; an impulse just came over him, which he acted on without thinking of the consequences. He’d never even wanted to kiss another man, well, apart from when they had caught Myfanwy, but that didn’t count. Surely. It was just the adrenaline and the joy of getting a job so he could finally take proper care of Lisa. Now though, he didn’t have adrenaline as an excuse. He had to admit to the fact that he had wanted to kiss Jack. He leant his head back onto the sofa cushions, harder than was necessary; he did not have the energy to be questioning his sexuality at three in the morning, besides, if he wanted to be a functioning human being tomorrow, he had to face his fears and go to sleep, at least for a few hours. At least he couldn’t think when he was asleep. He could replace one problem with another. He thought of Lisa. Was he being disloyal to her? They’d been together for years and he was thinking about moving on mere months after she’d died? No, he wasn’t thinking of moving on, it was just one action that he didn’t have any reasoning for. There was no reason to mention it again, and he certainly wasn’t going to be talking to Jack about it, He slowly got up and began to make his way to the bedroom. He stopped for a moment and changed course to the kitchen. There was no way he was going to get any sleep now, so he might as well make some coffee. Coffee made everything better.

Meanwhile, as Jack was climbing down into his bunker, he was thinking about everything that had happened that evening. It had definitely been eventful. He didn’t exactly expect the quiet, unassuming archivist to be so bold, not that he was complaining. He had to admit that Ianto was hot, but that wasn’t news to him, if he was being completely honest with himself, that may possibly have been a very small contributing factor into offering him a job. That and the fact that he wouldn’t leave them alone, although running him over with the SUV seemed like a pretty good solution to that problem. He climbed onto his bed, not bothering to get under the blankets, still musing over what he could do, after all, as much as he wanted this to happen, he had to respect that Ianto was probably struggling with it. After all, this was such a conservative society, as much as he tried to change that. His records had shown no evidence of any previous boyfriends. What with that and Lisa, who knew what tomorrow would bring. Still, there was no point stressing about it, he’d talk to Ianto tomorrow about everything, and if he decided he still wanted to talk, great. If he decided he didn’t want to kiss Jack again, he’d be fine with that as well. He had to be.

The next day, Ianto walked into work, sleep deprived and having drunk slightly too much coffee, although you’d never know it to look at him. He was surprised he managed to drive into work without falling asleep at the wheel, he’d have to catch a couple of hours of sleep in the archives. No one could hear him down there if he woke up screaming. Jack looked down from his office at him, curious as to how today was going to pan out.  
Ianto went round doing his morning jobs, clearing up and getting coffee, until, just as he was about to disappear into the safety of the archives where he could finally sleep, Jack called him into his office. Ianto had hoped that Jack would just let it go, or he could put it down to being a sleep deprived hallucination, but it appeared that it wasn’t going to be that easy. Ianto took one last longing look into the archives, and the promise of a nap, before reluctantly following Jack into his office.  
“You wanted to see me, sir?”  
“Yes, Ianto, I wanted to know where we stand after last night.”  
Ianto sunk into a chair, wishing he’d thought before acting because now he was going to be subject to this very long and rather uncomfortable conversation. His sleep deprived brain begged him to claim ignorance and get out of there, but he knew that wouldn’t swing with Jack, so he couldn’t do anything but answer, “I… don’t know. Sir.”  
“I didn’t even know you swung that way.”  
“I didn’t. Don’t.” He put his head in his hands, trying to gather some sense of a coherent thought, “it doesn’t matter anyway, it was one time and I can’t do this to Lisa. She-”  
Jack interrupted, “I understand that you’re hurting, Ianto, but wouldn’t Lisa want you to be happy and live your life to the full? How can you even begin to heal if you’re still holding onto a dead woman?”  
“How can I let go if she’s all I’ve got?” Countered Ianto.  
“She’s not,” he stood up and walked around the desk to stand next to Ianto, “you’ve got me, haven’t you?”  
“It’s different, you’re my boss.”  
“It doesn’t have to be so different, boss or not.”  
Jack leaned down, ever so slowly, giving Ianto every chance to pull away, and kissed him softly, conscious not to do anything to make him uncomfortable, but this time, instead of pushing him away, Ianto pulled Jack closer, wrapping his arms around his neck.  
Eventually, Jack broke the kiss, “is that a yes then?” He asked, laughing slightly.  
“A yes to what?” said Ianto warily.  
“To letting me be there for you.”  
Ianto nodded, only slightly hesitantly. He took a deep breath, “okay, but I’m warning you, I’ve never done this before.”  
“I know,” He grinned in response to Ianto’s raised eyebrow and shrugged, “I checked your file.”  
Ianto rolled his eyes, “of course you did.” He paused, “So, what happens now?” He looked up at Jack, brow creased in confusion.  
“Well,” Jack stood up properly, “as I’m still your boss,” he winked, “I suppose you’d better get back to work. We’re still responsible for saving the world after all”  
Ianto nodded and jumped up obediently, heading towards the door.  
Jack smiled, appreciating the view, “you know, you really do look good in a suit.”  
Ianto looked back at him, also smiling, “careful sir, that’s harassment,” before leaving to go down to the archives, and have the most restful sleep he’d had in months, safe in the knowledge that Jack was there for him, whatever.  
Jack leant back in his chair, not even pretending to be doing work, there was time enough to do boring things like reports later and today had already been a surprisingly productive day.

Ianto walked past Tosh’s desk on the way to the archives and when she dared to look at him, he shot her a quick smile before disappearing downstairs. Tosh was taken aback. For the first time since she’d known him, there was no veiled sadness in his eyes, just unbridled joy, and warmth. She didn’t know what Jack had done, but she couldn’t help but be glad for whatever it was. She turned back to her work, happy in the knowledge that maybe something else good had come out of that cursed pendant.


	2. Ianto's Sick Day

Ianto woke up and immediately wished he hadn’t. He sat up and wished he hadn’t done that either, because even that simple motion sent his stomach rolling and threatened to make him throw up. He groaned and quickly lay back down, rubbing his hands over his face and hoping somehow that lying down would help to at least prevent him throwing up, if not make him feel actually better. This was all Jack’s fault. Inadvertently. He’d started eating properly for the first time in months since he and Jack had gotten together, actual meals where Jack made him eat actual vegetables, which was rich considering Ianto wasn’t even sure Jack could cook and he got take away at least as often as Ianto did, but the more consistent and reluctantly healthy diet was wreaking havoc on his digestive system. After Lisa’s death he hadn’t had the energy or the motivation to cook anything really and even the minimal human contact required for ordering in seemed like too much effort after a long day of pretending at work, so he just didn’t. He survived mostly on coffee and whatever food they had at the Hub, which was usually either old takeaway (he decided against eating that most of the time) or crisps (which he did eat), so eating three proper meals a day didn’t really happen. Honestly, he was lucky if he got one. It seemed to work, or at least it allowed him to function, so he didn’t see the point in making the effort to change, though he supposed the fact that he was having to punch new holes in his belt should have been a bit of a warning that at some point something would have to give. Now though, he was eating actual food and it was really messing with his stomach, even if it did mean that he was considerably less tired and was putting back on the weight he’d lost.  
He briefly considered staying home from work, because his bed was warm and staying in it didn’t require moving, but it would probably pass soon anyway, and he didn’t want to worry everyone, especially Jack. Jack would be insufferable. So, he bit the bullet and began to get up. Slowly.  
Everything was so much more effort than normal, it felt as bad as when he was in the deepest part of his grief, and he resented the reminder of that dark time. He got into the shower, letting the warm water run over him as he leant against the wall, waiting for the wave of nausea to pass. The heat was a blissful remedy to the shivers that shook his body, so he stayed in the shower until the hot water began to run out, and he had to brave the cold of the outside. Wrapped up in his dressing gown and a blanket, he made his way to the kitchen, before realising it probably wasn’t the best idea if he wanted to make it to work without throwing up, so he decided to get dressed instead, that at least was an essential thing to do before going to work. By the time he was ready, he felt almost normal, his three-piece suit acting as a safety blanket. That illusion was quickly shattered when he took the many stairs down to his car and all the shivery nauseous feelings returned. With a vengeance. Still, Ianto kept telling himself that it was just the food and it would pass as he sat in the driver’s seat with his head resting against the steering wheel, trying to gather the energy to drive to work.

At the Hub, his daily routine of clearing up anything left over from the night before, which usually wasn’t a lot seeing as he was normally the last person to leave (bar Jack) and making coffee for the team soothed him and he thought with relief that he’d be able to get through the whole day. He absentmindedly took a sip of the coffee he’d just made, to ensure it was up to his high standards, he couldn’t serve the team substandard coffee, even if most of them probably wouldn’t notice if it was instant. Big mistake. He determinedly ignored the temper tantrum his stomach was throwing and hastily picked up the tray of mugs and began delivering them to the team, not daring to stop and talk to any of them, barely managing a tight-lipped smile. He really hoped that his body would get the message that he was trying to work and leave him alone. It sort of worked, the nausea eased slightly, but he was still shivering despite the fact that the Hub was unseasonably warm.  
Finally, he went up the stairs to Jack’s office and put the steaming cup of coffee in front of him.  
“Ianto, my hero,” he joked as he reached up to kiss him softly, “how would I survive without your coffee to see me through?”  
This was too much for Ianto’s unsettled stomach and he pulled away just in time, because the next second he was on his hands and knees, throwing up rather spectacularly in a nearby waste paper bin, thankfully not a wicker one. Before he really had time to register anything, Jack was crouched down next to him and there was a warm hand rubbing his back.  
“I’ll try not to take that personally,” said Jack, the teasing tone covering real concern, “will you be okay here while I go and get Owen?”  
Ianto nodded, dropping to sit down properly on the floor with his head leant against the cooling wood of Jack’s desk.  
Jack gave him one last assessing look before running out of the door and calling Owen. Owen came sprinting to Jack’s office, taking the stairs two at a time, showing that he really did care about the team, despite his attitude often suggesting otherwise, and pushed past Jack, coming to a halt next to a now weak and shivering Ianto.  
“Ianto, how are you feeling?”  
“Not great,” he groaned.  
Owen did some quick tests before turning to Jack, who was worriedly hovering around them.  
“I’m fairly certain it’s just a stomach bug, but I’d like to take him down to the autopsy bay to do some more thorough tests.”  
Jack nodded curtly and moved to help Ianto stand.  
“Can you walk?”  
“Yes I can walk,” answered Ianto before promptly losing his footing and falling into Jack, with no energy to drag himself up again.  
Jack put his arm round his waist to help him along as Ianto hissed to him, “if you don’t calm down, the rest of the team are going to guess about us. You look so worried, I had no idea you were such a mother hen.”  
“What, I can’t be concerned if one of my employees is ill?”  
“Concerned would be fine, but you’re unreasonably alarmed, especially if it’s just a stomach bug.”  
“In my defence, Owen only said he was pretty sure, but fine, if you really want me to, I’ll try and be more subtle.”  
Ianto choked out a coughing laugh, ignoring how his stomach protested at the movement, “you couldn’t be subtle if your life depended on it.”  
“Now that is just plain rude,” said Jack as he helped Ianto onto the autopsy table and draped his coat, which he had the good sense to grab from his office when he saw Ianto was shivering, over Ianto’s shoulders. Ianto gratefully wrapped it closer around himself, trying to be inconspicuous as he tilted his head to the side to try and breath in Jack’s familiar scent which was practically woven into the fabric.  
While Owen was conducting all of the tests to make sure Ianto wasn’t actually infected with some deadly alien virus which started out with suspiciously mild symptoms, Ianto kept shooting warning looks at Jack, who, despite his promise, was still very much acting like a mother hen, and Ianto didn’t miss the eyebrow raising looks between Tosh and Gwen, which made him wish the floor would swallow him up, or he might pass out from embarrassment.  
“Yup,” announced Owen, finally stepping away from Ianto, “you’ve got a stomach bug. Go home and rest with lots of fluids and you should be fine in the morning.”  
Ianto guessed it wasn’t the food after all then. Maybe staying home would have been a more sensible idea. It would have been less uncomfortable than having Jack lingering around him. Although it was less Jack’s reaction and more the other’s reactions to Jack’s reaction. He really didn’t want to undergo any awkward questioning, so he was quite glad to be going home, even if he wasn’t entirely sure he was able to drive.  
“I’ll take him home,” volunteered Jack, “call me if the Rift starts acting up. I’ll keep my mobile on.”  
He helped Ianto off of the autopsy table, still shivering, even with Jack’s thick coat wrapped tightly around him, and held him up as he stumbled his way to the cog door.  
“You’d better keep working while I’m gone,” said Jack as he exited the Hub.

Despite Ianto’s protesting, he felt in Ianto’s waistcoat pocket for the keys and unlocked Ianto’s car.  
“I can still drive,” said Ianto, still heavily leaning on Jack, his eyes drifting shut and slurring his words slightly.  
“No you can’t,” answered Jack, as he helped him into the passenger seat, “you’d crash and then we’d have to deal with the police, which I really can’t be bothered with today, therefore, I drive.”  
Ianto conceded, he wasn’t exactly in a state to be arguing, besides, he was just so damn tired, not to mention already quite comfortably sat in the passenger seat. He lent his head against the cool of the window and felt himself start to drift off.

Jack drove towards Ianto’s apartment, smiling lovingly over at the sleeping man, he never looked so peaceful when he was awake, his face was so open and beautiful, and Jack loved to watch him sleep. In a completely non creepy way. He promised. Anyway, he knew Ianto didn’t mind, because when he’d caught him doing it, he’d just smiled and pulled him down for a sleepy kiss.  
He pulled smoothly into Ianto’s parking space and walked around the car to open the passenger door, opening it carefully so Ianto didn’t fall out. He stood there for a moment, hoping Ianto would wake up by himself. Jack couldn’t bring himself to wake him up, not when he looked so calm and happy, so he looped his arms under Ianto and hoisted him up into his arms. He kissed his forehead and began walking up all of the many stairs. At least Ianto wasn’t too heavy.  
Unlocking the door was a bit of a struggle and required some ingenious puzzle solving, but eventually, they were both inside and he managed to get Ianto tucked up in bed with as many blankets as he could find. Impressively, Ianto managed to stay asleep throughout the entire process, hardly stirring, even when Jack may have slightly knocked his head on the door when entering the apartment, which Ianto couldn’t really blame him for, considering how difficult it was to get them inside at all. Jack hoped that all this sleeping was a good thing, because it meant he was healing. Right?

A couple of hours later, Ianto shifted and blearily opened his eyes. He appeared to be in bed. And wearing nothing but his boxers. He assumed that was Jack and was quite surprised that he left his boxers on if he was being honest. He moved a hand up to his head, where he appeared to have a bruise on his head, which he felt like he could also blame Jack for. The last thing he remembered was climbing into his car, so unless he teleported, which wasn’t impossible, but his first idea of Jack doing it seemed more likely, and he was grateful that Jack had let him sleep. He rolled over and became aware of Jack lying next to him, also blinking his eyes open, woken by Ianto’s movement.  
He smiled sleepily, “hey, you feeling any better?”  
Ianto nodded, “I think so,” he yawned. “why are you still here?” He raised an eyebrow confused at Jack.  
“I’m not in the habit of leaving my partners when they’re ill. Do you want something to eat?”  
He nodded again, feeling warm inside at Jack’s words, despite still feeling pretty awful, “that would be nice.”  
Jack gave him a quick forehead kiss and climbed out of bed. He wasn’t wearing anything. Of course he wasn’t.  
Ianto laughed softly, ignoring how it unsettled his stomach, “really? You couldn’t even have left your underwear on?”  
He shrugged, “I can’t sleep in my clothes,” he winked unapologetically, “and you love it really,” he gave a cheeky wiggle before leaving the room.  
“Don’t destroy my kitchen.”  
“Do you really think I would?” Called Jack from the hall.  
Ianto grunted noncommittedly, deciding this wasn’t a battle he was going to win in his state, and snuggled back down to sleep.

In the kitchen, Jack looked around, unsure where to start. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually cooked, but he would do this. For Ianto. He started rifling through cupboards and pulling out ingredients and different pans at random. He wacked a pan on the stove and just started chopping up and shoving things in. Soup could have anything in it, right? Either way, it looked like things in a pot that could possibly be eaten. He even found a blender in a cupboard, which he found only mildly terrifying, but he wacked the cooked-up stuff into it and set it onto fast. Without the lid on. Soup looking liquid splashed over the walls, ceiling, and Jack himself. Oops? He hurriedly wacked the lid on and held it on firmly until it was fully blended. He wiped the soup off of himself with a tea towel, which he promptly discarded on the messy counter, before hastily ladling the food sloppily into a bowl for Ianto.  
Surprisingly it only took him half an hour, but rather a lot of mess to make, so he’d have to do some serious cleaning up before Ianto came in here again. He did however have something that looked and tasted vaguely like soup. Pretty proud of himself, he brought the bowl into the bedroom.  
This time sitting down on the bed was enough to rouse Ianto, who sleepily struggled into a sitting position, while Jack plumped up the pillows behind him and made sure he was comfortable, in a rather caring manner that very few people saw, because it was usually hidden beneath his loud and flirtatious manner.  
“I made soup.”  
“So I can see, and I assume you ruined my kitchen in the process.”  
Jack looked slightly sheepish, and didn’t meet Ianto’s accusing stare, “we don’t need to talk about that, the most important thing is that I made you soup, because I’m the best boyfriend ever. Now, eat.”  
He holds the spoon up to Ianto’s mouth, and smiled when he began to eat.  
“It’s surprisingly good, I have to say I’m impressed, especially as I can’t exactly see you following a recipe.”  
“I told you, I’m the best.”  
“I know.”  
Ianto managed to finish the soup, without upsetting his stomach too much, before yawning and practically falling asleep with his head in the soup. Jack held his head up and put the bowl down on the nightstand, before moving Ianto’s head onto the pillow and tucking him into bed.  
“Sleep,” he said as he stood up.  
Ianto grabbed his arm as hard as his sleepy brain let him, “stay?” he asked, barely coherent.  
Jack smiled, patting his hand gently, “I will, I’m just going to put the bowl away, I’ll be back in a second.”  
Ianto nodded and tucked his arm back down under the duvet, his eyes closing almost immediately and he was out like a light.  
Jack hurried to drop the bowl off on the soup splattered counter, ignoring all the mess that was still in the kitchen, before going back to bed. Ianto snuggled into his warmth, still shivering and Jack pulled him close, dropping a quick kiss onto his hair.

The next morning, Ianto woke up, still comfortably cocooned in Jack’s arms, but feeling significantly better. He wriggled his way out of bed and put his dressing gown on, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He needed coffee. Badly. He stumbled yawning towards the kitchen, before stopping, absolutely horrified. It looked like a bomb had gone off, a bomb filled with soup, or, in this case, Jack had attempted to cook. Attempt being the operative word, because although the soup tasted decent, it had clearly come at a price.  
Clearly Jack had woken up, because a moment later warm arms wrapped around his waist, and Jack was kissing his neck, acting as though he’d done nothing wrong. Probably trying to take Ianto’s mind of his ruined kitchen.  
“No, you can’t distract me,” said Ianto, pushing Jack away slightly regretfully, “what did you do?”  
“I made soup.”  
“How?!”  
“I don’t know, I just shoved some things into a pot. You know I don’t cook”  
“I have never met anyone who can make such a mess from making soup.”  
“Well, I am unique.”  
Ianto left the room, “clean it up, before I murder you. And I am not joking.”  
Jack laughed and began cleaning up, knowing Ianto was joking, but only a little.

Two hours later, the kitchen was just about cleaned to Ianto’s impossibly high standards, and he finally got his coffee and Jack had finally put some clothes on, though he claimed he was really too tired to do anything after that intense kitchen clean up.  
Ianto smiled as he walked in, “you know, you really didn’t have to stay overnight, I could have dealt with it myself.”  
Jack sat down next to him, “just because you could have done, doesn’t mean you had to. Haven’t we been through this? I’m always going to be here for you, when will you accept that.”  
“I guess it’s still just so new to me,” he reached for Jack’s hand, “I really do appreciate it.”  
“I know,” Jack stood up, pulling Ianto by the hand and planting a kiss on his surprised mouth with a smile, “come on, we’ve got to get to work, and you can drive this time,” he said, passing Ianto the keys.

Back at the Hub, things were back to normal. Ianto was making and delivering coffee, happy and content, feeling rather refreshed from his day in bed, but Jack couldn’t help but wish that they were still back at Ianto’s flat, far far away from these UNIT reports and anyone who could interrupt them, especially now Ianto was feeling better. He looked up and smiled as Ianto entered with blessed coffee, who smiled back, placing it on a coaster he’d rescued from drowning in the paperwork. Jack reached up to kiss him.  
“Hey, at least you didn’t throw up this time,” he laughed.  
Ianto laughed too, “no, I don’t think it was related to the kiss last time, and I’m willing to prove it if necessary.”  
“An intriguing idea, but unfortunately, I think we’ll have to save it for another time. These reports won’t write themselves,” he answered frowning, gesturing at the towering pile on his desk.  
“I’ll put it in the diary. Sir.”


	3. Telling the Team

Life at the Hub was uneventful. Uneventful for the Hub anyway, there were still a fair few Weevils roaming around and causing some trouble, but nothing world ending. Times like this were rare enough that the team revelled in being able to go home before nine and not having to come in until eight. It was practically like having a holiday.  
Ianto was making coffee for the team, the first of many cups that got them through the unusually long work hours, even in this dormant period, twelve hour work days weren’t that uncommon, and he hummed happily to himself as he set up the machine, quite content in his routine and the fact that he wasn’t risking his life. Unlike some of the others, he didn’t thrive off danger, one of the many reasons he was an archivist, but a little peril here and there certainly made for an interesting day.  
He carefully balanced the steaming mugs up on a tray and began handing them out to the team, chatting with them as he did so. Talking to Gwen about Rhys and how they were able to have an actual date last night. Talking to Tosh about some new Rift programme she was running, if Ianto was honest, he didn’t actually understand half the things she said, but he nodded and agreed in all the right places and she seemed to be happy to just talk at him. Owen was never one for small talk, but even he had a quick chat, talking about some alien autopsy he’d done a few days ago, which had some special ventilation method that allowed for 100% oxygen saturation. Ianto mostly followed, but couldn’t fathom why it was so interesting, still, he enjoyed having the time to actually have a proper conversation. They had to savour the moments when they could actually relax at work, because that could change in an instant and the world could be in danger, causing them to drop everything and leap into action. After giving the rest of the team their coffee, Ianto made his way up to Jack’s office. He knew that Jack didn’t really like the calm periods, there was far too much sitting around and, in his head, anything was better than actually doing paperwork, but at least he wasn’t risking people’s lives. That was the hardest thing for him, sending people out into the field knowing that he was risking their lives but not his, that they could die but he would still be cursed with life. So maybe the respite wasn’t so bad after all. Ianto dropped the coffee on the only empty part of Jack’s desk and was about to lean in to kiss him when he heard the office door being opened and Ianto suddenly realised he had somewhere else to be and hastily left the room, pushing past a bemused Gwen as he did so.

Down in the archives, Ianto leant against one of the filing cabinets he was meant to be organising and thought how ridiculous this was. He wanted to be able to kiss his boyfriend without constantly feeling like he was looking over his shoulder to make sure no one could see them. He felt like a damn teenager sneaking around his parents, not that he’d really had many relationships as a teenager. The only place he could kiss him without worrying was down in the archives, because he knew that none of the team would come down here and it just so happened that Jack seemed to find himself down here a lot recently, and it ended up taking Ianto rather a long time to find whatever file Jack was looking for. It had gotten to the point where Ianto was trying to avoid even brushing against him when he was with other people, because he didn’t want to incur any awkward questions from the team. He was becoming slightly paranoid and it was quite frankly exhausting.  
He sat down on the floor, leaning his head back on the brick wall, there was no way he was going to be able to work effectively when he was feeling like this. His mind was racing. It wasn’t as though he didn’t want the team to know, he actually wanted to tell them, he’d be so relieved if they knew, so he wouldn’t have to do all of this sneaking around. That was the only downside of the Rift being so quiet, although Jack was here more, so was everyone else, so there was very little time alone with Jack during the work day. They couldn’t even use the excuse of going out on a mission for some minor threat, because everyone else jumped at the chance to get out of the Hub, so Weevil hunts became a five-person job. The only thing stopping him from telling the team was Jack. Ianto knew he was immortal and from the 51st century, so commitment meant something a bit different to him, and he didn’t want Jack to feel like he was being pressured into anything, so he didn’t really want to bring it up, but it would be nice to be able to kiss his boyfriend. Ianto mused over their relationship for a moment. For all he knew, Jack just wanted to keep this between them, so there would be no repercussions when he got bored and broke it off, chasing after the next thing that caught his fancy. Ianto wasn’t sure about the no repercussions bit, maybe there wouldn’t be for Jack, he’d be too busy getting distracted by everyone else, human or not, but for Ianto… Jack was the one who’d pulled him out of the pit he’d fallen in after Lisa, and he wasn’t sure that if Jack broke things off he wouldn’t fall back twice as deep. That wasn’t Jack’s problem though, he wouldn’t burden him with it, not with everything else that he’d already had to shoulder. It had only been a couple of months, but Ianto already knew that he was falling for him, so he would take as much of Jack as he decided to offer, but never ask for anything that Jack wasn’t willing to give.

Up in his office, Jack had finished with whatever problem Gwen had come to him about, he thought it was something about Rhys and Weevils, but he’d been sort of distracted, and it hadn’t gone unnoticed to him that Ianto had left very promptly once she entered without so much as a kiss. He understood why Ianto wanted to keep it a secret, after all, it hadn’t exactly been a long time and he was probably still deciding if this was something he wanted to continue, he had warned Jack that he hadn’t done this before. Or, maybe, he was just using Jack as a way to move on from Lisa, and he was okay with that, well, he wished it could have been more, but if that’s what Ianto needed, then that’s what Jack would give him. No pressure and no commitment. It was Jack’s trademark move.

Later that evening, they were back at Ianto’s apartment and Ianto was cooking. He didn’t trust Jack after the soup incident, though he vowed he would teach Jack how to cook properly, as soon as they had time, which apparently was never. His mind was still racing with the thoughts from earlier, and eventually he decided he had to talk to Jack, even if it was just to find out where they stood. He couldn’t keep darting around the question. Jack called himself his boyfriend, but refused to be open with their relationship, which left Ianto feeling like he was flailing in the dark.  
He placed the plates of pasta on the table but remained standing. Jack, sensing something was wrong, didn’t start eating.  
“Is everything okay?” Jack asked, concerned.  
“I think we need to talk.”  
“That sounds ominous, what is it?”  
Ianto took a deep breath and began to speak, “okay, so I know this hasn’t been going on for very long, and I’m not really all that sure what it is, but I think that I need to know. And don’t think I’m pressuring you into doing anything that you don’t want to do, because I’m not and I know that you find commitment difficult because you’re immortal-”  
As Jack listened, he began grinning happily at Ianto, although Ianto was so caught up in his speech, that he’d even started pacing. The speech sounded like he’d written down and practiced, which would be a very Ianto thing to do, and made Jack smile all the more, but Ianto didn’t even notice and just continued talking.  
“So I’m completely fine if you want to keep this just between us with no commitment or expectations, but if you’re happy to, I think that I’d like to tell the team, just so I don’t feel like I’m keeping secrets again, because that didn’t work out very well last time. That being said, I’m completely okay with whatever you want to do-”  
He broke off when he finally saw Jack’s face and realised that he was trying to hold back his laughter.  
“What?”  
Jack stood up from the table and wrapped his arms around the still standing Ianto, “it’s just the fact that I’ve been thinking the same thing, but I didn’t want to bring it up because I thought you might just be using me to get over Lisa and I didn’t want to pressure you into anything.”  
Ianto laughs at the ridiculousness of the situation and Jack joins in, happy that it worked out so well for both of them.  
“I think from now on we should probably talk to each other sooner to avoid any more misunderstandings.”  
Jack nodded in agreement before effectively cutting him off with a kiss. Ianto happily kisses him back for a moment until he realises something and quickly pulls away.  
“What now? I thought we were done talking,” teased Jack, but as much as he really wanted to kiss him again, still stayed back to listen to what was bothering Ianto.  
“How on earth are we going to tell them?”  
“Well, if we start kissing in the middle of the Hub I reckon they’ll get the idea pretty quickly.”  
Ianto shook his head, “absolutely not.”  
“I thought you wanted to be able to kiss me at work?”  
Ianto rolled his eyes, “you know that I do, but that opens far too many opportunities for the girls to corner me with awkward questions. You have no idea how brutal they can be in their questioning. And seeing as I’m not their boss, they do not hold back.”  
“Okay, what do you suggest?”  
Ianto shrugged, “can’t we just tell them?”  
“You mean like have a meeting?”  
Ianto nodded.  
Jack thought it over for a second before agreeing, “Fine by me. Now, are we done talking?” Jack kissed his neck suggestively.  
“Absolutely.”

The next day when they arrived at work, Jack and Ianto went straight up to the board room, without so much as acknowledging anyone else, causing the rest of the team to look among themselves in confusion.  
Once they were alone, Jack looked over at Ianto who was pacing around the room nervously, “you sure about this?”  
Ianto nodded, but didn’t stop his pacing.  
Jack went over to him and stopped him with a comforting hand on his shoulder, “it’s okay to be nervous, we don’t have to do this if you’re not ready.”  
“No, I want to do this. I’m just not great at being the centre of attention.”  
Jack kissed his forehead, “hey, it’ll all be over soon and then things will go back to normal,” he considered for a second, “but better, because you’ll be able to kiss me whenever you like,” he grinned at Ianto, who still had a sort of deer-caught-in-the-headlights look about him.  
Ianto nodded again, “you’d better call them in here then.”  
Jack smiled at him before going to the door and yelling to the team to come up.  
The very confused team entered the board room, shooting suspicious looks at Jack and Ianto. The girls sat down, but Owen remained standing, barely in the doorway, impatient to get back to the alien enzymes he was studying.  
After a slightly awkward silence, Owen jumped in, “so what’s this all about? Or did you just want to spend some quality time together?”  
Jack cleared his throat, “well, we-” he looked at the nervous Ianto, who appeared to be retreating into his suit, “-wanted to tell you that the two of us were together. Like, dating.”  
Owen rolled his eyes, “are you kidding me? You dragged me away from actual work to tell me something I already knew?”  
Jack looked surprised, “you knew?”  
“Of course I did, it was pretty bloody obvious when you wouldn’t leave Ianto alone when he was ill, you acted like he was on his deathbed. Not to mention the fact that you already act like an old married couple. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to do something actually useful.” He stormed out, slamming the door behind him.  
Both Ianto and Jack blinked after him in shock, “well…” began Jack, stopping when the girls burst out into giggles.  
“What, don’t tell me you knew as well.”  
They looked at each other and nodded.  
“It sort of gave it away when I saw you snogging on the CCTV in the archives,” started Gwen, before Jack interrupted her.  
“Woah woah woah, you’re not supposed to look at that without my express permission.”  
“Yeah, but you two were acting so shifty, I had to confirm my suspicions,” she smiled at Jack, “and I was right,” she added smugly.  
“And you’re not exactly subtle,” continued Tosh, “I mean, you always arrive and leave together, it’s pretty obvious. It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together.”  
“We thought you were just telling us like that, you know, so we didn’t want to bring it up.”  
Ianto glared at Jack, who cleared his throat, “that’s how I wanted to tell you, but Ianto thought it would be better to tell you all outright to avoid awkward questions.”  
Ianto grumbled under his breath something about how he didn’t appreciate being interrogated, especially not at work.  
Jack dismissed the girls, who left, still laughing, hopefully to do some work, but it was more likely that they would be talking about Jack and Ianto.  
Ianto sunk down onto a chair and put his head in his hands, and Jack stood behind him and began rubbing his shoulders.  
“That wasn’t too bad, was it?” Asked Jack.  
“Too bad?” Came the muffled voice, “it was utterly humiliating. They already knew, and I fully blame you for that. At least I can be subtle when I want to.”  
“I wouldn’t call practically dragging me down to the archives subtle, but who am I to complain?” Ianto still wouldn’t look up, so he continued, “hey, at least it’s over now, and I can do this whenever I want,” he lifted Ianto’s hands away from his face and captured his mouth in a kiss.  
“That makes it all worth it I suppose.”  
Jack grinned, “do you have any idea how many people would kill for just one of my kisses?”  
Ianto laughed, “shut up,” and kissed him again, not caring who was watching.

The next morning, Jack and Ianto arrived at the Hub, late due to an alarm malfunction, which Ianto blamed on Jack throwing it across the room the previous morning, holding hands and smiling. Tosh and Gwen smiled at each other, happy enough for them that they don’t mind the fact that they haven’t had any coffee yet. Owen, on the other hand, wasn’t quite so understanding, rolling his eyes and muttering something under his breath about how lax Ianto had become since he was shagging the boss, but secretly he was just as pleased as the girls, just suffering from the lack of coffee.  
Jack and Ianto parted ways with a kiss, which left Ianto blushing and hurrying off to the kitchen to make coffee before Owen killed him, while Jack made his way up to his office, grinning the whole way.

Ianto came up a little while later to drop off his coffee, having made sure the rest of the team were suitable caffeinated, and Jack turned to him, glad for any distraction from his work.  
“You’d think that as your boss, or even your boyfriend, I’d get my coffee first.”  
“That would be true, except for the fact that you made us late and they’ve already been working for an hour, so I figured I probably owed it to them. Besides, I thought Owen looked ready to murder me, so if you wanted a living employee and boyfriend, he had to get his first.”  
Jack laughed softly before turning serious, “are you glad that everyone knows now?” He looked up at Ianto earnestly.  
Ianto nodded and stepped closer to him, setting the mug on the desk, “most definitely, because now I can do this without worrying,” he leant down and kissed Jack, who was more than happy to reciprocate.  
“Get a room!” Came Gwen’s cry from downstairs, and the two men smiled, knowing she was joking.  
“I feel that it’s all official now that other people know.,” said Ianto, a hint of excitement in his voice.  
“Is that alright?”  
“Best news I’ve had in a while,” and he gave Jack another quick kiss before leaving to continue his work.  
As Ianto left, Jack turned back to his work. Somehow, even these mind-numbingly boring reports seemed slightly more interesting now that he knew Ianto was really and properly his. It certainly made work a lot more exciting, and not in a world endy sort of way.

Tosh sat at her desk thinking that there was something different about both Ianto and Jack this morning, and it wasn’t the fact that they apparently couldn’t be within two feet of each other without kissing, but there was definitely something, she just couldn’t put her finger on it. She mulled it over as she monitored the Rift. Suddenly, it hit her. Both men had looked like there was some sadness hanging over them, not that that was surprising, given what both had been through, but today, they just looked as though a weight had been lifted from their shoulders. She was happy that they’d found each other. After everything they’d had to cope with, they deserved to find someone. She only hoped she’d get the same one day, and she couldn’t help but shoot a look over to Owen. Still, she was really glad for them and hoped it would last; Torchwood wasn’t exactly a risk-free job, but for now, let them be happy.


	4. The Date

Ianto was nervous. Illogically nervous, but nervous just the same. It seemed ridiculous, considering his job constantly put him in potentially fatal situations, to be so worked up over a date. Although to be fair to himself, it was a date with Captain Jack Harkness, who wasn’t exactly known for romantic gestures. It wasn’t really his norm, so Ianto had no idea what a date with him would entail. He revaluated, thinking that maybe his nervousness was completely logical. Yet he was still here, anxiously smoothing down his suit jacket, waiting for Jack to come and pick him up.  
He was glad that Jack was back, obviously, life wasn’t the same without the dashing captain dropping innuendos at the most inappropriate moments, but he’d never expected him to ask him on a date. If he was honest, he wasn’t really sure what to expect once he’d gotten over his initial shock that Jack, his Jack, had come back. For the first few weeks after Jack left, he cried himself to sleep every night, and fell back down into depression, but, eventually, he’d crawled out of that place and become a mostly functioning human being. Before Jack had left, they’d been well on their way to having a stable, relatively normal, relationship, but then his Doctor turned up and off he went. Ianto wasn’t surprised, he always knew how important the Doctor was to Jack, but a little bit of him hoped deep down that maybe he would make Jack think twice. Of course he didn’t. All this time later, Ianto couldn’t just expect to pick up where they left off. He didn’t even know what Jack had been doing, but given his unwillingness to share any personal information, he doubted he’d ever find out. He berated himself at his willingness to accept Jack back with open arms. He should be angry, should be furious, about how he just left without a word, but he just… wasn’t. When he saw Jack again for the first time it felt like a release, a release of tension that he didn’t know he was holding onto, and all he wanted to do was stumble into his arms and feel home again.  
When he and Jack had gone to the office block, he ignored the butterflies that fluttered in his stomach at the idea of being alone with Jack again, and decided it would be better if they just got on with their work and ignored whatever had been between them once, what felt like a lifetime ago. He could go back to being nothing more than employee and boss. Jack didn’t seem to get the memo though, and almost immediately brought it up, right after he’d gotten weirdly excited about the office. If he brought it up at all, Ianto expected the conversation to go one of two ways: one, their relationship should go back to being strictly professional, as professional as any relationship with Jack was, or, two, he could go back to being Jack’s part-time shag, but with no emotional commitments, nothing like the relationship they had before. But then Jack suggested a date. They’d never really done that before, not because they weren’t dating, but there always seemed something else to do, reports, saving the world, organising the archives, so it just didn’t happen. They’d had dinner together at Ianto’s flat, Jack had practically moved in, but they’d never gone out. Ianto was ashamed at how eagerly he jumped at the chance. He hadn’t even given it a second thought. That was always how it was, Jack asked for something and Ianto gave it to him, no questions, even if it meant tearing himself apart in the process. Of course, this wasn’t that dramatic, it was just a date, but Ianto feared that nothing would come of it, and that would ruin him, especially after he’d spent so long coming to terms with the fact that Jack left him. He worried that if he let him in again, no amount of self-control could cover the damage done if Jack crushed his heart. Although, it surprised him the next day when he went to Jack’s office to drop off a cup of coffee and Jack asked him if he was free that evening. He’d hardly dared to hope that Jack would remember and that it wasn’t just a product of the guilt he felt for leaving, one that he’d instantly regret and never bring up again.

The buzz of the intercom snapped Ianto out of his reverie.  
“You ready to go?” Came Jack’s voice from downstairs.  
“I’ll be right down,” answered Ianto, hoping Jack couldn’t hear the tremor in his voice.  
He took one last look in the mirror, readjusted his tie, and took a deep breath, before heading out of the flat and down to where Jack was waiting with the SUV.  
“Did you really have to bring the car?”  
Jack grinned, “why? What’s wrong with it?”  
“Nothing, it’s just the work car. Seems a little odd to be taking it on a… date.”  
“You’d rather we walked?”  
“We could have taken my car.”  
“But that’s hardly romantic. Besides, it would have ruined the surprise of where we’re going.”  
“Okay then, I suppose I’ll forgive you.”  
Jack opened the passenger door with a flourish, “your carriage awaits.”  
Ianto climbed in, feeling slightly awkward, but surprised at how easy it was to slip right back into the playful banter that they’d always had, hoping that this boded well for the rest of the evening. Whatever it was that they were doing.  
Jack got in the other side and looked over at Ianto, “you look gorgeous, thank you for agreeing to come out with me.”  
Ianto dipped his head so Jack couldn’t see the blush beginning to rise on his cheeks, “it’s my pleasure.”  
Jack grinned, pleased that he still had such an immediate effect on Ianto, “aren’t you going to tell me I look gorgeous?”  
“Of- of course,” stammered Ianto, thinking maybe this date wasn’t the best idea after all, “you always do.”  
Jack gently ran his hand over Ianto’s hair, making him blush all the more, and began to drive.

Soon, they pulled up in a carpark near the bay, and Jack got out the car, opening the door for Ianto.  
“Are you still not going to tell me where we’re going?”  
“Nope. That’s why it’s called a surprise. What don’t you understand about this?”  
Ianto sighed, and Jack laughed, taking Ianto’s hand in his. Ianto glanced quickly at Jack in shock, but didn’t pull his hand away, feeling as though everything was going back to the way it was, and relishing the familiar feeling.  
They rounded the corner and Jack indicated a French restaurant, looking slightly anxiously at Ianto to gauge his reaction.  
“Surprise.”  
Ianto felt his face break out in a grin; he’d wanted to come here for ages, but there had never been the right excuse and he’d just sort of forgotten about it, filing it away with all of the other things he wanted to do, but hadn’t. Jack smiled at Ianto’s reaction, holding the door open for him.  
They entered the beautiful restaurant and Jack walked up to the desk, surprisingly, to Ianto anyway, still holding Ianto’s hand tightly.  
“Reservation for two, under the name Harkness.”  
“Very good,” the waiter grabbed two menus, “come right this way.”  
Once the waiter had seated them in a very dimly lit booth and explained the menu to them, he left and a silence fell over the two men.  
Soon the silence became overbearing and Ianto couldn’t take it anymore, so he said, “so, where were you? With your Doctor?”  
Jack nodded slowly, and Ianto waited to be brushed off with a laugh and innuendo, but instead Jack remained serious, “I did find my Doctor, and he told me that I couldn’t be fixed, that was why he was avoiding me,” he smiled half-heartedly, trying to make light of the matter, “he went all the way to the end of the universe just to avoid an awkward conversation,” he looked down, not wanting to have to look at Ianto, “and, I’ve actually been on earth for the past year.”  
Ianto’s eyebrows creased in confusion, attempting to not feel rejected, but not able to catch Jack’s eye, “oh, what made you decide to come back now?” He said, trying to keep his tone light.  
Jack took a deep breath, “I was sort of kept prisoner. Do you remember that the President of the United States got assassinated a week ago, and that whole thing with Harold Saxon?”  
Ianto nodded slowly, highly confused about where this was going, “of course I do, it’s all over the news.”  
“Well, what happened between then and when I came back, we call it the year that never was.”  
“What do you mean? Those events were only days apart.”  
“In your timeline, yes. But I was a prisoner of Harold Saxon, as was the Doctor and a few of my friends for a year. When he was defeated, time reverted back to when it all went wrong and only a few of us remembered the year that had happened.”  
Ianto looked rightfully shocked, “what did he do to you?” He asked hesitantly.  
“I died most days. Sometimes multiple times a day if he was in a particularly bad mood. That’s what he liked about me. He once told me that that was the best part, I wasn’t dead for long, so he got to kill me again. And he sent all of you on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas, so you couldn’t help me and I didn’t know if you were dead or alive,” he paused for a moment, breathing heavily, before composing himself and continuing, “The only thing that got me through that hell was the thought of coming back to you. The Doctor offered to let me stay and travel with him, travel through time and space and see the most amazing things, but I knew that I belonged here, in the arms of a certain Welshman, who I would treat right this time.”  
Ianto had stayed quiet throughout Jack’s little speech, not daring, not wanting, to push for any details. He didn’t want Jack to have to relive that horrible time, but at the mention of him, he finally spoke, “you really chose me over all of time and space? Don’t you think you’ll regret that?”  
Jack smiled at him and said softly, “time and space is overrated, besides, I had a lot of time to think over that year and I realised that the only thing that I was longing for was you. Not the stars, not the planets, just you.”  
Ianto’s eyes filled with tears that Jack gently brushed away as they spilled over onto his cheeks. He leant forward and kissed Jack hungrily, not caring who was watching, Jack reciprocated and was beginning to regret picking such a public place for their date when there was a pointed cough from the waiter. Ianto guiltily jumped back, bright red and retreating into his suit like a tortoise into its shell, while Jack looked completely relaxed with amusement dancing in his eyes.  
“Are you ready to order drinks, sirs?”  
“A bottle of champagne,” answered Jack before Ianto had a chance to open his mouth.  
The waiter nodded and left, while Ianto stared indignantly at Jack, “really Jack? Champagne?”  
“Well, I thought it was a night of celebration, besides, after eating cold mashed swede for a year I feel like I deserve a bit of luxury.”  
“I suppose you do,” Ianto smiled at Jack, before going red again, “um, sorry about kissing you like that. Something just came over me.”  
Jack grinned, “believe me, I did not mind one bit, nor would I mind if you decided to do it again.”  
Ianto shook his head vehemently, “absolutely not. It was humiliating enough the first time.”  
Jack shrugged, “I thought it was pretty good personally. Never mind, I guess I’ll just have to wait till later-” he cut himself off, realising what he’d said, “that is if you want to?”  
Any level of resentment Ianto had held for Jack melted away when he looked at how vulnerable the man was and everything he’d been put through, “of course I want to, I haven’t exactly had many opportunities since you left, and I have missed that coat.”  
Jack grinned, “I haven’t either, turns out it’s very boring being a prisoner,” he shook his head mock sadly, “and there weren’t even any cute guards.”  
Ianto reached across the table and took Jack’s hand in his own, “let’s just savour this moment, okay?”  
Jack gripped Ianto’s hand tightly, “naturally, that’s why I asked you on this date. I could have just shagged you over the desk, but we can have a bit of class. Besides,” he smiled surprisingly sappily, “I wanted to be able to spend some actual time with you that wasn’t at work.”  
Ianto opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get out more than, “Jack-” that damned waiter returned with their drinks and asked if they were ready to order.  
They both quickly looked over the menu and ordered, really wishing that the waiter would leave. Soon. Eventually he did, but no doubt he’d be back at another inconvenient moment.  
Jack looked back at Ianto, “so, you were saying?”  
Ianto looked away, shaking his head, “it was nothing, don’t worry about it.”  
Jack squeezed his hand gently, “Ianto, you know you can tell me anything, don’t you? Please.”  
Ianto sighed and closed his eyes, “fine. I was going to say that. I- I love you.” He opened his eyes hesitantly and looked at Jack nervously.  
Jack smiled, “I love you too.”  
Ianto looked at Jack in surprise, “you do?”  
“Of course I do. Haven’t you been listening to a word I’ve been saying?”  
Ianto shrugged, “I don’t know, I just can’t imagine you settling for someone like me.”  
“It doesn’t feel like I’m settling. I’ve known for a while now, but I didn’t want to freak you out in case you didn’t want me anymore.”  
The waiter arrived with their food, and they were quiet for a moment, focussing on the delicious food in front of them, and trying to process what had just been said.  
“Is this going to be a regular thing then?” Asked Ianto, once he’d almost finished.  
“I’d like it to be. Isn’t that what normal couples do? Go out together, eat good food and just spend time with each other?”  
“According to Gwen, but there’s not much that’s normal about us.”  
“True,” laughed Jack, “but it doesn’t mean we have to miss out on doing normal things. Sometimes all I want to do, is kiss my boyfriend and hold hands as we walk along the bay. Impressively saving the world is overrated.”  
“I wholeheartedly agree.”

When the waiter came back to collect their empty plates, he gave a rather forced smile and asked, “is there anything else I can get for you, sirs?”  
“No thank you, just the bill.”  
“I’ll be right back with it.”  
As the waiter left, Ianto grinned at Jack, “do you fancy a walk along the bay?”  
“There’s nothing I’d like more.”

Jack paid for the bill with the company credit card, at which Ianto raised his eyebrows, wondering if this really qualified as a business expense, but decided not to comment, and they walked out towards the picturesque bay with their fingers intertwined and gently leaning into each other.  
They chatted comfortably as they walked, talking about everything and nothing, but just enjoying each other’s company and relishing the normality of it all. It felt as though Jack had never left. Selfishly, Ianto began to think that maybe he didn’t mind the fact that Jack left, if that was what it took for Jack to realise that he wanted to stay with him.  
Soon, Ianto started shivering from the brisk sea air, and though he tried to hide it because he didn’t want this perfect pocket of time to come to an end, Jack couldn’t help but notice when Ianto’s teeth began chattering. Clearly he didn’t want it to end either, because he quickly shrugged off his coat, leaving him just in his shirt, and wrapped it gently around Ianto’s shoulders, and Ianto smiled gratefully at him, relaxing into the familiar weight that he’d missed so much.  
They sat down on the pier with their legs dangling over the water, huddled together and using the coat as a blanket. They stayed there for a while, looking up at the stars, but eventually they had to admit defeat and go back to the warmth of the car before they caught hyperthermia, which wouldn’t have been a very romantic end to their first date.

They drove back to Ianto’s flat in comfortable silence, reaching their destination all too quickly. Neither of them wanted this to end.  
Ianto got out of the car and made it halfway to the door before he realised Jack wasn’t following him, but was still sat in the car, looking after Ianto, wondering what he should do.  
“Are you not coming up?” Asked Ianto.  
Jack’s face lit up and he practically ran over to Ianto, “I didn’t want to assume-“  
Ianto smiled and pulled him into a kiss, eventually breaking away and saying, “I think it’s safe to assume,” before unlocking the door and climbing the stairs to his flat. He’d missed this.

The next morning, Ianto woke to the light streaming into the room, he tried to sit up, but discovered he was cocooned in Jack’s arms, which wouldn’t have been a problem, apart from the fact that his clock said it was ten o’clock. He hastily shook Jack to wake him up. Jack didn’t sleep as much as most people, but when he did sleep, he was almost impossible to wake up. Still, Ianto was well practiced in waking Jack up and eventually succeeded.  
“What is it?” Asked Jack blearily, nuzzling into Ianto’s hair to try and escape from the bright morning light.  
“Jack, we’re late for work, let me go!” He tried to wriggle out of Jack’s arms but to no avail.  
“Consider it a day off,” said Jack, now pressing sleepy kisses into Ianto’s hair, “the team will call us if something comes up that they can’t deal with.”  
“And you couldn’t have told me this last night?”  
“Must have slipped my mind,” Jack smiled at his one last romantic surprise. Maybe he was better at this than he thought.  
Ianto rolled his eyes lovingly, before lying down with his head on Jack’s chest, content to spend all of the time that he could with his boyfriend.


	5. Meeting Ianto's Sister

Ianto was down in the archives organising some files that were put in an… interesting… place. Honestly, it’s like they didn’t even try and organising things before he arrived, which, on second thought, knowing Jack, it was perfectly possible. He didn’t know how anyone could find anything in this mess. He sighed and looked around for a moment, wondering if he’d ever get through the expanse of the archives and finally have it all meticulously organised. Just as he liked it. As he was wondering this, his phone started ringing. Seemed as though Jack had finally sorted the signal problems down here, which meant their comms might actually work, always useful. He frowned and wondered who could be calling him, most of the people he communicated with were in the building, but he wouldn’t put it past them to ring him instead of trekking all the way down to the archives. He pulled his phone out of his suit pocket and frowned once more at the name on the screen. Rhiannon Davies. Great, that was all he needed. Sighing, he answered the phone.  
“Hey Rhiannon.”  
“Hey Ianto, I know you don’t like to be disturbed, especially as you’re probably at work, as usual, do you actually do anything else except work? So-”  
Ianto closed his eyes and leant against a filing cabinet, resisting the urge to bash his head against it and trying very hard not to zone out as Rhiannon rambled on about the kids and he made noises of agreement.  
“Anyway,” she continued, “the main reason I wanted to call was to invite you over for dinner on Friday, because I never see you, so if I don’t make definite plans, I probably never will.”  
Ianto rubbed his eyes tiredly, “Rhiannon, you know I can’t, I’ve got my job and-”  
She interrupted him, “surely you can take one evening off? You must have loads of holiday. Besides, I thought you could maybe bring your boss along.”  
“I really don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Ianto was seriously contemplating hanging up and pretending he had bad signal, but it was rare that Rhiannon got to talk to him and she seemed so excited, so he decided he had to wait it out and hopefully find a plausible reason to say no. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see her, it was just tiring having to pretend all the time and he wasn’t lying about having to work. What if the team needed him?  
“Oh go on, it would be fun, and besides, as a responsible older sister, I think I ought to meet the people that my younger brother is spending time with.”  
“I’m not a child anymore, I can look after myself.” Ianto realised that she wasn’t going to shut up anytime soon and he had to give in, “fine. I’ll talk to him, but no promises, okay?”  
Ianto could practically hear her grinning through the phone, “great, call me back when you know.”  
Ianto hung up the phone. It would be so much easier to not talk to Jack and pretend to Rhiannon that he’d said no, and not even given him the evening off. But he knew how much this meant to her, and it couldn’t possibly be that bad, right? Just one evening with his sister… and Jack. Before he could think about it too much, he started walking towards Jack’s office.

When Ianto got to Jack’s door, he knocked quickly, before he decided against it at the last second.  
“Come in.”  
Ianto took a deep breath and entered, closing the door quietly behind him and wondering how on earth he was going to broach the subject.  
“Ianto,” Jack’s face lit up when he saw who it was, and immediately stood up and walked over to kiss him, glad, as usual, for any distraction from his rather important work.  
Ianto kissed him back for a moment, happy as he always was when he was with Jack, but his stomach sank, remembering the reason he was there and pulling away.  
“I have something to ask you, sir,” he always became overly formal when he was nervous.  
“What is it?” Asked Jack, wrapping his arms around Ianto’s waist and nuzzling into his shoulder, clearly hoping for slightly more of a distraction.  
“My sister. She wants the two of us to come to dinner on Friday.”  
Jack stopped nuzzling Ianto’s shoulder in surprise, but then slowly started to smile, “okay.”  
Ianto looked at Jack, his eyes wide with surprise, “really?”  
Jack shrugged, “Why not? I don’t usually do the whole meeting the family thing, but then again, I haven’t had this much of a proper relationship in quite a while, so I think it sounds like a great idea.”  
“I guess I’ll have to call her back then, but you’ve got to promise not to do anything inappropriate.”  
“Would I ever?”  
Ianto raised his eyebrow at Jack, “promise?”  
Jack lifted his hand in a scout’s salute, “scout’s honour.”  
Ianto nodded, “right then, I’ll go and call her,” he tried to wriggle out of Jack’s arms, but to no avail, “as soon as you let me go.”  
Jack made a non-committal sound, beginning to kiss Ianto’s neck, clearly having no intention of letting Ianto go any time soon. Immediately, Ianto squirmed out of his arms and pushed him away, “Jack! There are people about!”  
Jack grinned and winked at Ianto, “I thought I was only banned from acting inappropriately at your sister’s dinner?”  
Ianto rolled his eyes and left Jack’s office to tell his sister that Jack had said yes.  
Jack sat down at his desk, not quite sure why he agreed to this. He’d always kept his distance from people, found that it hurt less in the long run, so for the last goodness knows how many years, he’d gotten pretty good at keeping people at arm’s length. Occasionally he’d show people parts of himself, but it was nothing that he couldn’t and wouldn’t drop at a moment’s notice. But then Ianto turned up. Sweet, witty, sexy Ianto, who’d crushed his walls as though they were made of paper, then managed to love what he’d found inside. He discovered he couldn’t keep people out forever, so maybe the warmth and joy of now was worth the heartbreak and pain later.

A couple of days later, Jack and Ianto were on their way to Rhiannon’s house, and Ianto was nervous. Jack was nervous too, but he hid it pretty well under his usual carefree demeaner, whereas Ianto was switching between fiddling with his tie and smoothing down his suit, until Jack took his hand, and he stopped, looking at Jack with poorly disguised panic in his eyes.  
“Ianto, calm down, it’s just dinner. If it gets really bad, I’ll fake an emergency and get us out of there.”  
Ianto gave a wan smile, “Somehow, I don’t think that would work. She’d under the impression that I’m a civil servant. What emergency could a civil servant have?”  
Jack laughed, “I really don’t have any idea,” he thought for a moment, “we could always retcon them?”  
“Jack Harkness, I am not retconning my sister, I don’t care how badly the evening goes.”  
“It was just an idea, it’s not like I suggested setting Janet on them.”  
“I should hope not. That would have been the worst idea I think you’d ever come up with.”  
“That’s rude, I’ve had plenty of bad ideas.”  
Ianto rolled his eyes and looked out of the car window, “anyway,” he said finally, “there’s no backing out now,” he nodded to the house on their left, “we’re here.”  
They got out of the car and walked up the garden path. Ianto pressed the doorbell and they waited for Rhiannon to open the door. Jack took Ianto’s hand and squeezed it tightly, a small gesture, but Ianto found it calmed his nerves somewhat, and he gave a gentle squeeze back, trying his hardest not to shrink into himself.  
Rhiannon opened the door while shouting something at David, before turning and smiling at the two men, smoothing down her hair in a way that reminded Jack of how Ianto was smoothing down his suit, not five minutes before.  
“Come on in,” she beckoned them in and gave Ianto a hug, “sorry for the chaos, Jonny’s out for the evening, so I’m afraid I’m lumped with the kids, but they’ve promised to be good and not disturb us, as long as they get sweets tomorrow.”  
She walked through to the living room, and Ianto whispered to Jack as they followed her, “thank goodness for that.”  
Jack huffed a laugh, leaning into Ianto, which he quickly turned into a cough when Rhiannon shot him a questioning look.  
“Please, sit down,” she gestured to the rather battered sofa, that looked like it had seen better days, “Ianto, could I have your help in the kitchen for a moment.”  
Ianto looked slightly confused, but said, “Sure.”  
Jack sat down, finally dropping Ianto’s hand and gave him an encouraging smile as he followed Rhiannon into the kitchen.  
She turned around to face him with her mouth open, “Susan was right, he is gorgeous.”  
“Stop it.”  
“I’m just saying.”  
“So what, are you and he, like, properly?”  
“Properly what?”  
“You know, together.”  
“I mean, I think so. He calls me his boyfriend, but it’s difficult with him and my job. He doesn’t really like to define things.”  
“It’s always your job, you can’t use it as an excuse for everything you know.”  
“Well he is still my boss, so my job is actually relevant. Now, did you actually want anything, or can we go back in? I thought the whole point of this evening was because you wanted to meet him, not hide in the kitchen talking to me.”  
“Alright, calm down, we’ll go back out.”  
Ianto smiled as they walked back into the living room, catching sight of Jack talking and laughing with Mica.  
“I thought I told you to go play in your room tonight,” said Rhiannon as she shooed her upstairs.  
“I don’t mind,” said Jack, “she’s a nice kid.”  
Jack took Ianto’s hand when he sat down next to him, and started talking to Rhiannon, “thank you so much for inviting me to come along with Ianto, it’s really nice to finally meet you. Ianto doesn’t like mixing personal stuff and work,” he laughed when Ianto gave him a warning nudge, “what? I’m just telling the truth.”  
Rhiannon smiled, seeing how easily they interacted and how comfortable Ianto looked with him, “he’s always been private like that, ever since he was young,” she started towards the door, “Anyway, we should probably sit down at the table, the lasagne ought to be done by now.”  
They sat down at the table and Ianto hissed to Jack as Rhiannon went to get the lasagne out of the oven, “if you do anything to embarrass me, you are so going to regret it later.”  
Jack grinned, “is that a promise?” And leaned in to kiss a slightly hesitant Ianto.  
Ianto kissed him back for a moment, a little bit more reservedly than usual, but he still jumped away with a red face, when he heard the lasagne being put on the table, harder than necessary.  
“Sorry,” said Rhiannon, not sorry at all, “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”  
“Blame it on me,” answered Jack, with his trademark grin, designed to make anyone swoon, “I’m a bad influence.”  
Rhiannon blushed as red as Ianto and bustled back out to the kitchen to get the garlic bread.  
Ianto turned to Jack, unimpressed, “did you really have to flirt with my sister?”  
Jack held his hands up in defence, “hey, don’t fling around wild accusations. I wasn’t flirting!”  
“Maybe you should tell her that.”  
Jack rolled his eyes, “don’t be so silly, I’m here as your date, and I love you, you know that.”  
Ianto nodded and smiled at him, “I love you too.”  
“I know.”  
Ianto laughed and Rhiannon came back with the garlic bread, glad to see him so happy. She served out, and they all ate and chatted together surprisingly comfortably, with only minimal interruption from the kids, including a dramatic five minutes where David managed to set fire to the hairdryer, but overall a surprisingly relaxing meal.

“That was delicious Rhiannon,” said Jack, leaning back with his hands on his stomach, “if I’d have known you were such a good cook, then I would have made Ianto invite me over long ago. I don’t think I’m going to need to eat again for a week.”  
“Liar,” said Ianto, “give it ten minutes and you’ll be hungry again,” he turned to Rhiannon, “honestly, it is scary how much food he can eat.”  
Jack half-heartedly shoved Ianto, who laughed and excused himself to the toilet.  
As he left the room, Rhiannon leaned over to talk to Jack.  
“Listen, I can see that you have fun with Ianto, but you are also gorgeous-”  
Jack nodded slowly, slightly concerned about where this was going, and fully prepared to fend her off, because despite what Ianto said, he really did have no interest in his sister, or anyone really, now that he had Ianto, but other people didn’t seem to get the message. It was hardly his fault he was so immensely attractive.  
“-and it would be so easy for you to drop him and move onto the next person that catches your eye. But I haven’t seen Ianto look this open and happy, well, ever, so I can’t let you hurt him. I can see that he’s fully fallen for you, and I won’t allow you to crush him just so you can keep flitting from person to person, I know your sort,” she leaned closer to Jack, and he leaned as far back as his chair would allow him, “he is my little brother, and you’d better not hurt him.”  
Jack held up his hands in defence, “hey, as if I would. I love Ianto with all of my heart, I promise you that I won’t let anything hurt him, least of all me. Why would I move onto anyone else when I’ve got everything I need right here?”  
Rhiannon leant back in her chair, reasonably satisfied, “that’s alright then.”  
Jack let out a long breath, glad that the interrogation was over, and even more glad that she hadn’t been coming onto him. That would have been rather awkward.  
Ianto walked back in and sat down, before realising they were both staring at him, “everything okay?”  
“Of course,” answered Jack, “why wouldn’t it be?”

Later that evening, Rhiannon had dug out some dusty old photo albums and was showing them to Jack while Ianto died of embarrassment. He had given up trying to get her to put them away; she was insistent, and Jack was a more than willing audience. He noted that they were only pictures of him, and he wondered where all the embarrassing ones of her were.  
“Here’s one where I dressed him up as a little girl,” Rhiannon pointed at a photo of toddler Ianto in a pink, sparkly, dress with lipstick smeared all over his face, she laughed, “can you tell I wanted a little sister? I was so disappointed when I found out Ianto was a boy, but it didn’t stop me dressing him up!”  
“Wow, how did you manage to get him in that dress? And heels too?”  
“They were my mams heels, and honestly he really didn’t mind it that much.”  
“I can’t say that’s true now, believe me I’ve tried.”  
“Jack!” Cried Ianto, mortified.  
He tried to snatch the photo album out of Jack’s hand, but Jack swiped it out of reach with ease.  
Ianto sighed, “I think that’s probably enough of that,” he looked at his watch, “besides, it’s almost ten o’clock, we should really be getting home. We have work tomorrow. Remember.”  
“On Saturday?” Asked Rhiannon incredulously.  
Ianto nodded, cursing himself for mentioning work, even if it was true.  
Jack laughed, “what can I say, I work them hard.”  
Rhiannon nodded, not entirely convinced, but let it go.   
“I’ll just go and bring the car around the front, thank you so much for having us Rhiannon, the lasagne was delicious.” He stood up and left, giving Rhiannon a hug and a peck on the cheek and dropping a quick kiss into Ianto’s hair on his way out.  
“You’re lucky you’ve found him, you know.”  
“I do know.”  
“Seriously though, you look so much happier now, than ever before, and I think it’s all because of him. Of course, his good looks don’t hurt.”  
“Shut up. I don’t know why I put up with you.”  
Rhiannon laughed, “come on, he’ll be wondering where you’ve got to.”  
Ianto stood up, “thank you for having us.”  
“Well I never normally get to see you, but you’ll have to come over again sometime.”  
“Sure.”  
They hugged, and Ianto walked down to the car and climbed in the passenger side. He waved to Rhiannon as they drove off.

“That was a fun evening.”  
“It went better than expected. Except when she started showing you all of the baby photos.”  
“I thought you looked adorable.”  
“Even so, I don’t think anyone should ever see me wearing a hot pink ball gown. If I thought I’d have gotten away with it, I would have destroyed that photo years ago. And she twisted the facts, I was not a willing participant. She was just older. And bigger.”  
“I think you could pull it off,” Jack thought for a second, “in fact, I think I might still have one somewhere…”  
“You’re joking?”  
Jack winked, “I’ll see if I can find it.”  
Ianto slid down in his seat and covered his face with his hands, “let’s just go home before you get any more ideas.”

Back at Ianto’s flat, they were getting ready for bed. Ianto had just finished brushing his teeth, and said, “Jack?”  
Jack appeared behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist, and rested his chin on his shoulder, “what is it?”  
“thank you for coming to Rhiannon’s with me.”  
“It was hardly difficult, I’m just glad you’re being open with me. You didn’t even tell your family you were dating Lisa, yet you took me along to meet your sister, I’ll take that as a pretty good sign. For us I mean.”  
Ianto laughed softly, “I hadn’t really thought about it like that. I just feel so safe and comfortable with you. Everything comes so naturally. Even taking you to meet my family, though I probably wouldn’t have thought of it if she hadn’t asked.”  
“Wow, are we becoming a normal couple?”  
Ianto pretended to be shocked, “Never! How dare you accuse us of such things.”  
Jack looked at them in the bathroom mirror, “there really isn’t much that’s normal about us, is there?”  
“no, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”  
Jack laughed and kissed Ianto’s neck, smiling when he felt Ianto lean into it, “shall we go to bed?”


	6. A Day Off

Ianto looked around the bay when he was out to get coffee, they’d almost run out, so he had to get some more before the team started rioting. He noticed how the sun sparkled off the water; it was really a very beautiful place, if you ignored all of the background noise. As much as he loved his job, sometimes he wished that he could have days off, like other people had in their normal jobs, where he could just appreciate everything around him, but with Torchwood, days off weren’t exactly prevalent. He paused for a moment, closing his eyes as the sun warmed his skin. His eyes snapped open. Jack had promised him that they could have a day off last time he was drunk. He wasn’t sure how much of that night Jack remembered, he was betting not a whole lot, but he was never one to go back on a promise, at least, not where Ianto was concerned. Maybe it was time to call in that promise, he could do with a lazy day at home, preferably with Jack.

A little while later, Ianto knocked on Jack’s office door, holding a steaming cup of coffee that would hopefully sweeten him up a bit. He smoothed down his suit as he waited for Jack to invite him in.  
“Come in,” came Jack’s voice.  
Ianto entered the room, noting with displeasure the desk that appeared to be in even more disarray than usual. An impressive feat. He scanned it, looking for any free space to put the mug down. He didn’t find any, and he didn’t know where on earth Jack’s coasters were, but he knew he had about three, presumably they were buried like everything else, under the mountains of paperwork.  
“Did you come in here just to judge the state of my desk?”  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, sir,” replied Ianto, still surveying the bombsite, which Jack claimed was his desk.  
“Come on Ianto, you were making your ‘the mess here is causing me physical pain’ face. Again.”  
“Maybe I was. I seem to make it quite a lot where you’re concerned,” said Ianto, absentmindedly shuffling papers into piles with one hand, while he searched for a coaster to put the coffee on, “but it wouldn’t kill you to keep your desk in some sort of order. Even if you just kept it vaguely clean,” he said, frowning as he threw away a Chinese takeaway carton that had been there at least three days.  
“Why should I when I can appreciate the view when you do it for me?” laughed Jack, leaning back in his chair and looking pointedly at Ianto.  
Ianto stopped clearing the desk, having finally found a coaster and put the mug down, on the only space he’d managed to clear, “anyway,” he said, hurriedly changing the subject, “do you remember what you said a few weeks ago, when you were drunk?”  
Jack screwed his face up, trying to remember but eventually shook his head, “nope, why would you ask such a difficult question this early in the morning?”  
“Firstly, it’s practically lunchtime. Secondly, well, you promised we could have a day off.”  
Scratching his head, Jack asked, “did I? I really need to stop getting drunk.”  
“You did, and I thought I would hold you to that promise. Tomorrow, Rift permitting.”  
Jack nodded slowly, beginning to smile, which worried Ianto slightly. That smile was never good news.  
“alright then, on one condition.”  
Ianto froze, maybe this wasn’t a good idea, knowing Jack, the condition could be anything, from impossible to extremely sexual. Probably the latter. He closed his eyes, bracing himself and berating himself for asking at all.  
“You teach me how to cook.”  
Ianto’s eyes flew open. “What?”  
“You also made a promise, and honestly, at my age, it’s just getting embarrassing. So, I’d like to learn how to cook.”  
This had turned out much better than expected, and Ianto jumped at it, “very well, I’ll notify the others, but we’d better keep our mobiles on loud in case they do need us.”  
He left the room, as Jack muttered under his breath, still appreciating the view, “they’d better not.”

The next morning, Jack woke up to the sun streaming in through the window and Ianto in his arms. He blinked and yawned, adjusting to the bright room. Was this what other couples had daily? Because if so, he felt like he was missing out. Torchwood wasn’t exactly conducive to a flourishing relationship, one of the many reasons he’d avoided them till now. He looked down at Ianto, who had his head on Jack’s chest, looking so peaceful. Ianto was definitely the exception to all of the rules he’d been living by, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He woke the sleeping Welshman by covering his face with kisses. Ianto sleepily opened his eyes and batted Jack away when he kept on trying to kiss him.  
“Morning handsome,” laughed Jack, still attempting to smother Ianto in kisses, and failing.  
“Morning,” yawned Ianto, burying his head in Jack’s chest to try and block out the morning light.  
“Not a chance,” Jack climbed out of the bed before Ianto could get comfortable again and fall back asleep, “we’ve got cooking to do.”  
Ianto looked at the clock, “Jack, it’s 9:30, we’re not starting now,” and he put a pillow over his head and continued with a muffled voice, “at least let me have a lazy morning.”  
“You don’t know how long it’s going to take, besides,” he lent close to the pillow mound, “I’ve got a present for you.”  
Ianto rolled over, abandoning the pillow, and asked suspiciously, “what is it?”  
Jack left the room and came back with two rolled up bundles. He unrolled one.  
“Try my buns.” read Ianto before looking at Jack with a raised eyebrow, “really? Are you having a laugh?”  
Jack grinned, “what? I think it’s a great apron, I got one for you as well.”  
He unrolled the second one, and Ianto read, “kiss the cook.”  
Ianto decided this was definitely a bad decision, and would have pulled the duvet over his head and gone back to sleep, but Jack had other ideas. He whipped the duvet away and pulled him out of bed, which he would have protested about, but then Jack was kissing him, and he sort of forgot what he was supposed to be annoyed about. It was strange, he thought that after this many months of dating, he would have gotten used to kissing Jack by now, but it still felt just as overwhelming as the first time. He guessed no one ever really got used to Jack. He was pretty overwhelming, in more ways than one.  
“What was that for?” Ianto asked.  
“Just following orders,” said Jack, nodding to the apron that he’d somehow managed to tie on Ianto without him noticing.  
Ianto rolled his eyes, smiling, “alright then, what do you what to learn to cook?”  
Jack shrugged, “not a clue. I figured you’d be better at picking something than me, considering you can actually cook.”  
Ianto thought for a moment, tying Jack’s apron absentmindedly when prompted, “how about omelette? I’ve never met anyone who can’t cook an omelette.”  
“Sounds good to me.” Jack took Ianto’s hand and they went to the kitchen, before Ianto stopped, yanking Jack back, causing him to almost fall over.  
“What is it?”  
“At least let me shower and get dressed first, especially if this is going to take all day.”  
“Fine. Be quick.”  
“Thank you,” Ianto kissed him quickly, then headed to the bathroom.

Not twenty minutes later, Ianto emerged, showered and ready for whatever the day would throw at him. He’d traded his usual suit for a t-shirt and a pair of jogging bottoms, but still managed to look put together.  
“Can we cook now?” pleaded Jack, tying Ianto’s apron back on.  
“Yes, though I still don’t think we’ll need three hours to make an omelette.”  
In the kitchen, Jack stood in the middle, looking a little lost, while Ianto bustled around getting out pans and ingredients, and made coffee, the most important activity of the morning.  
Ianto sipped his coffee, “do you have any idea what to do first?”  
Jack opened his mouth as if to speak, thought for a moment, then closed it and shook his head a little sheepishly.  
“Okay then,” Ianto realised this was going to take rather a lot of his legendary patience, “first, we cut up some onion and bacon, which will be our filling. Do you know how to cut those two things up?”  
Jack nodded, “I’m not entirely useless, you know,” and he began haphazardly chopping the onion.  
“Careful,” warned Ianto, moving to stand behind Jack. It was like trying to teach a child. Masses of confidence, but absolutely zero idea of what to do, “you’ll take your fingers off doing that, and I know you can grow then back,” he added, when Jack opened his mouth to speak, “but I don’t especially want to have to clean up all of the blood. You have no idea how much it stains, and it would ruin the grouting.”  
Jack rolled his eyes and smiled, “I’m very careful I’ll have you know. I don’t injure myself on purpose.  
“No, but somehow you manage to injure yourself significantly more than the rest of us,” he put his hands over Jack’s and carefully guided them to chop up the onion in nice even slices.  
“Now,” Ianto instructed, stepping back, “put the onion in the pan on the stove with some butter, and turn on the heat.”  
Jack did as he was told, leaping back into Ianto with an unmanly yelp when it started to sizzle and spit much to Ianto’s amusement, as he pushed Jack back to the stove.  
“Hundreds of years old, immortal, scared of a sizzling pan.”  
“Shut up,” said Jack, “It took me by surprise, that’s all.”  
“You really haven’t cooked anything before.”  
“Damn, I thought I was doing quite well.”  
“Miraculously, I’ve seen worse.”  
The bacon was successfully cooked and put aside with the onion, with minimal input from Ianto, mostly just reminders to put things in the sink once he’d finished, so the mess didn’t build up. Jack was perfectly content to litter the surfaces with various ingredients and cutting boards, but that would not fly with Ianto, so everything was cleared up as they went along.  
Even Jack knew how to grate cheese, although he was so busy showing off the one thing that he didn’t need help with, that he managed to cut a good slice of his finger off, so he had to start again. More carefully.  
“I did warn you.”  
“It’s fine, see,” he held up his finger, “it’s healed already.”  
“Honestly Jack, I was less worried about your finger and more the fact that you’ve just wasted half a block of cheese.”  
“Rude.”  
Jack finished grating the non-bloody cheese and looked over at Ianto, who was lounging against the worktop, for the next instruction.  
“Now, grab two eggs,” –Jack did as he was told—“and crack them into a bowl. Gently,” he added as an afterthought, when he saw Jack lifting his arm alarmingly high to crack the eggs.  
Jack grinned at Ianto and lowered his arm slightly before gently tapping the eggs against the side of the bowl. He was about to dump the eggshells on the counter, but a pointed cough from Ianto caused him to quickly change his mind and put them in the compost instead.  
Ianto smiled, “you’re learning.”  
Jack raised an eyebrow, “isn’t that the whole point of this day?”  
“I suppose, but your arrogance would have people believe you know everything.”  
Jack held up a finger, “everything except cooking,” he grinned, “so, what’s next, teacher?”  
Ianto, only slightly distracted by Jack calling him teacher, how did he manage to make everything sound sexy?, said, “add some salt and pepper, then whisk it all up,”  
Jack did as instructed, but it was hardly his fault that the bowl was too small and some of it slopped over the sides. Ianto cleaned it up with a cloth and a long-suffering sigh, but he got a kiss for his troubles, so he thought it was worth it.  
“Right,” said Ianto, unfortunately cut off when Jack decided to kiss him again. It took all of his resolve not to sink into it, but he managed to pull away long enough to say, “I thought you were supposed to be learning how to cook? You did say it was the whole point of today.”  
“This is so much more fun though,” replied Jack, against his lips.  
Ianto pushed him away, laughing, “is this why you thought it would take all morning?”  
“Mostly, yes, although I did factor in some time for my incompetence”  
“Well, we can probably be finished in ten minutes, can you cope till then?”  
“Fine,” huffed Jack, but still smiling, “what am I supposed to be doing?”  
“Melt the butter in the pan, then add the egg.”  
Jack did as he was instructed, brow furrowed in concentration, so he didn’t even realise Ianto was standing behind him until he said right next to him, “make sure the pan is as hot as it can get,” and turned the hob up.  
“The pan isn’t the only the only thing that’s as hot as it can get.”  
Ianto hit him with a tea towel and laughed, “now add the filling and the cheese. Wait for it to cook, then flip it in half and slide it onto a plate.”  
Jack grumbled as he did so about how it was such a waste of a day off.  
Ianto hit him again, “don’t forget this was your idea, I was all for just having a lazy day in bed, or maybe strolling around the bay. Just think of how embarrassing it would be if you had to make an omelette and couldn’t.”  
“Still not worth it,” muttered Jack under his breath, as he slid the omelette onto the plate with some pride. He looked at Ianto.  
“That, shockingly, looks like an omelette, but I don’t really feel like eating omelettes at” –he checked his watch-- “10:30,” he thought for a moment, “ maybe we could freeze it and put a plaque next to it, right in the middle of the Hub,” he held his hands up for emphasis, “here lies the cooking of the great Captain Jack Harkness.”  
Jack laughed and took Ianto’s hands, lacing their fingers together, “the only problem with that, is it would require going back to work, and we are supposed to be having a day off. Didn’t you say you wanted a lazy day in bed?”  
He left the room, and Ianto followed willingly, the forgotten omelette left on the counter.

Much later, Ianto entered the kitchen to make some more coffee and caught sight of the omelette, long since gone cold, and smiled to himself. He put the coffee maker on and gave the surfaces a quick wipe down, even with him there, Jack had still managed to make a remarkable amount of mess. Maybe not that remarkable, he thought back to when Jack tried to make soup, he’d certainly made a lot more mess then.  
“Damn, I didn’t know anyone could look that hot wearing jogging bottoms, but you’ve proved me wrong once again Ianto Jones.”  
Ianto turned around to see Jack leaning against the doorframe, smiling at him. He smiled back and threw the cloth he was using in the sink, not even bothering to wash it out, before going to stand in front of Jack. Jack rested his hands on Ianto’s hips and kissed him. Ianto threaded his hands into Jack’s hair and kissed him back, happy in this little bubble of domestic bliss. It was rare that they could just exist with each other, without worry. There weren’t even any small threats to be anxious about, let alone world ending disasters. Ianto pulled Jack closer, relishing the fact that he was right there and not being ripped away, or dying. It seemed that he almost lost Jack every other week, and it never hurt any less, if anything, it hurt more, because he’d had more time and he’d fallen even more in love.  
“I love you, Jack,”  
“I love you too,” Jack pulled away to look at Ianto and ran a gentle hand down his face, “let’s watch a movie.”  
“Okay, The Princess Bride?”  
“Perfect.”  
They spent the rest of the day and a good portion of the night snuggled up on the sofa under a single blanket, watching movies. It was exactly the day off that Ianto wanted, lazy and with no responsibilities. Despite the fact that they were supposed to be cooking, they ordered take away, and ate it straight from the box, still curled up on the sofa. They were practically falling asleep before they finally gave up and went to bed. Missing out chunks of films because they were asleep made for a very confusing plot, but neither of them wanted this day to end, so they clung on to it for as long as they could.

The next morning, Ianto climbed out of bed, really wishing he’d had more than three hours sleep. Those final couple of movies were probably a mistake, but he smiled sleepily at the memory of last night and stumbled to the kitchen to make both of them some much-needed coffee, when he stopped dead in the doorway. The kitchen was crawling in ants and they were covering the long-forgotten omelette. Ianto groaned, and blamed Jack for distracting him. This never would have happened if Jack had just let him clear up like normal.  
By the time Jack was up, the whole of the kitchen had been disinfected.  
Jack walked into the kitchen, and was hit with the eyewatering smell of cleaning spray, “woah!” he said, reeling, covering his mouth with one arm and attempting to waft away the smell with the other, “what did the kitchen ever do to you?”  
“Final lesson. Always clean up after you’ve cooked.”


End file.
